✈️🐾 If you haven’t heard about our Squadron Membership program, it’s one of the easiest, but most important, ways you can help save lives! By providing monthly donations, you ensure the safety of thousands of dogs and cats! Please join our special group of Dog Is My CoPilot Squadron Members. This generous group gives monthly, providing financial support for the life saving rescue flights.

The ‘Big Dog’ flies thousands of miles each year, transporting these special animals to safety. We connect dozens of rescue partners, but Jet fuel prices alone, cost our non-profit more than $90,0000 per year. We never charge the groups we fly for so we rely on the generous support from people like you!

Since we know we can count on regular donations from our Squadron Members, we are able to respond to emergencies, and work with our rescue partners to coordinate flights in advance.

Memberships are easy on your budget. You can set-up a gift that will have a meaningful impact over the course of the year.

You have full control. You can increase, decrease or stop your donation at anytime.

You’ll be part of our team. We’ll invite you to participate in member only online events where we share stories from recent rescues.

Do you have a Birthday coming up and have family and friends asking you what you want this year and not sure what to tell them? Since we know that you are an animal lover we might have the perfect idea!

Facebook now gives you the option to create a fundraising campaign that you can share with your family and friends to let them know that this year—in lieu of gifts—you would like a donation to be made to Dog Is My CoPilot. You’re gifts will go straight to work flying abandoned shelters animals to safety and give them a the second chance they deserve!

You’re own birthday fundraiser is a simple and impactful way that you can help us save the lives of shelter animals and give them a second chance by flying them home! Don’t worry, it’s easy to setup and we’ve outlined a few simple steps to get you started!

Don’t forget to set an achievable fundraising goal. Try starting with $200 or $300. You can always raise the amount based on your success—and remember that for every $50 we can fly another dog or cat to safety!

Invite people on your friends’ list and engage with them! The more people you invite, the more money you’ll raise. And remember to thank your friends as they donate and watch the numbers go up!

At Dog Is My CoPilot, we don’t want to miss out on the celebration—please email us after you set up your campaign and share your mailing address so we can send you a special card!

A recent law requires that California pet stores can only sell rescue dog and cats that come from animal shelters or non profit organizations—this is really big news that we couldn’t be more excited for!

The Pet Rescue Adoption Act, went into effect January 1, 2019 and bans all California pet stores from selling puppies, kittens and rabbits sourced from commercial breeders. Instead, these stores will only be able to house rescue animals from local shelters. The law will target the breeding facilities known as puppy mills or kitten factories, which often operate with little attention to the animals’ welfare by housing them in overcrowded, unsanitary and inhumane conditions. These animals are then sold to commercial pet stores solely for profit. To learn more about the legislation check out, A.B. 485.

According to Best Friends Animal Society 4,100 dogs and cats are euthanized every day in animal shelters. The number of animals that are needlessly dying in shelters simply because there is not enough space for them could be reduced dramatically if more people adopted pets instead of buying them. If you buy a dog or a cat from a pet store, you’re most certainly getting a pet from a puppy mill. Puppy mills and kitten factories continue to stay in business simply because their consumers are unaware of where the animals have come from when they purchase a puppy or kitten from a pet store. Puppy mills will continue to operate until people stop supporting them.

Dog Is My CoPilot dedicates all of our program and resources to fly animals from overcrowded shelters to organizations in other states that have space to find them homes. Creating more opportunities and ways for people to adopt a pet rather than purchase a pet will ensure more animals waiting in shelters have the opportunity to find loving homes. We fly on average about 20 flights per year from overcrowded California shelters—we hope that more states will follow California!

Celebrate the holiday season with everyone on your list by giving the gift of animal rescue. Your donation helps us save animals and is a unique gift that will brighten the holidays for your loved ones and for homeless animals.

It’s never too late to find that one special gift— a gift that will Fly Them Home.

Giving Tuesday is on November 27, and we wanted to share a story about two very special Dog Is My CoPilot passengers to celebrate this global day of giving back! Shrek and Fiona were found abandoned in the Central Valley of California with only a handful of food and suffering from a terrible case of mange. It was obvious this brother and sister had been neglected for most of their life.

Take a look at them now in this heartwarming video with Pilot Peter. You won’t believe their transformation in just a few short months!

HOW DOG IS MY COPILOT HELPED:

When animal control picked them up their plan was to euthanize these pups but Sharon Lohman with New Beginnings for Merced County Animals saw the beauty in these dogs and reached out to Lynette Duford with Life Saver Animal Rescue in Northwest Montana who agreed to take them on and get them on the path of healing. Dog Is My CoPilot provided the long distance transport!

THEIR JOURNEY:

After traveling on the ‘Big Dog’, foster mom extrondianirre Lynette Duford, unloaded Shrek and Fiona and they started on the road to recovery the second they landed in her arms. With lots of love, kisses, snuggles and some (medication) these two lovely dogs started to flourish and eventually found their way into the loving arms of their fur-ever mom!

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

Shwanda of Missoula, Montana just couldn’t resist their ‘hippo-like’ appearance and overwhelmingly sweet personalities. Instead of only adopting one as she originally planned she couldn’t imagine this bonded pair living apart so she took this brother and sister duo straight back home with her!

“I had been following their story since the moment they landed in Montana. Shrek and fiona are both very smart, learn quickly and always want to please. They love playing hard and snuggling long! I think I needed them as much as they need me, its a perfect match” said Shwanda, Shrek and Fiona’s mom.

Rescues like Shrek and Fiona are only made possible by your contribution. Please consider making a donation to Dog Is My CoPilot to celebrate #GivingTuesday and help us save more lives just like this fun loving hippo pair! Every gift makes a difference– $50 moves 1 animal and $5,000 saves an entire plane load of over 100 furry passengers! You can make a LIFE SAVING donation HERE.

Thank you for being part of the DIMC crew we are so grateful to our entire community who makes this life saving work possible!

SAVE THE DATE – November 27! Dog Is My CoPilot is excited to announce we will be participating in #GivingTuesday!

You might be wondering what is Giving Tuesday? Giving Tuesday is a social media driven global day of giving that is celebrated on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving and the widely recognized shopping events Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Giving Tuesday kicks off the charitable season, when many focus on their holiday and end-of-year giving.

New this Giving Tuesday, Facebook and PayPal will match donations up to $7 million starting at 5am PST made through Facebook until matching funds have been used up. The earlier in the day you visit DIMC’s Facebook Page, the earlier you’ll be guaranteed a matching donation.

We also want to remind you that Giving Tuesday isn’t just about the donation; it’s about telling the world why you care about the causes you support. And to celebrate this occasion, make sure to share why you support Dog Is My CoPilot. Post a picture on social media with the hashtag #DIMCGivingTuesday and we’ll be sure to share your photos! So if you have not already done so, make sure you’re connected to us on Facebook , our website and Instagram so you can follow along on this exciting day!

Did you know that Dog Is My CoPilot flies out of the Central Valley once/week transporting on average over 400 animals from this one location alone per month?! That gives you a rough idea of the number of animals that need rescuing from overcrowded shelters that are at risk of being euthanized simply because there is not enough space for them.

We would love nothing more than to see this number decrease so we want to highlight, SNIP (Spay Neuter Imperative Project) who is working hard to help decrease the number of animals entering shelters each month. SNIP is a vet clinic on wheels offering high-quality, $25 spay/neuter, microchips and vaccinations at an affordable price! They are actively partnering with veterinarians across California to provide low-cost clinics to end animal overpopulation! They are currently expanding to the Central Valley and looking to purchase a 33′ mobile spay/neuter unit to reduce Central California’s overflowing shelter numbers specifically targeting Modesto, Merced and Stockton California. Check out their Facebook page and website to learn more about this awesome project!

Spaying or neutering is one of the greatest gifts you can provide your pet, your family and your community. These routine medical procedures help decrease the number of pets entering shelters and free up homes for other pets by preventing unwanted litters.

October is Adopt a Shelter Dog Month, which means it’s the perfect opportunity to help animals in shelters all across our nation find loving, happy homes!

Ideally, the best way to celebrate would be to adopt a shelter dog. However, if you are unable to do so, spread the word. Volunteers and donations are welcome, too! Post it on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and any other social media you can think of using: #AdoptAShelterDogMonth.

Another way to help is to support your local animal shelter. Show the pets at your local shelter or rescue group that you care by donating time, money or supplies like pet food, leashes, beds and toys. Call the shelter to see what supplies or services are needed most. Even the smallest effort can make a difference.

The Dog Is My CoPilot (DIMC) crew imagines a world without euthanasia, a world where every animal has a home, where shelters don’t suffer overcrowding and where healthy animals don’t face euthanasia. Until this becomes a reality, DIMC will work tirelessly to save as many dogs and cats as possible from euthanasia one FLIGHT at a time!

As Peter ‘The Pilot’ says, “for every animal that’s in a shelter, there is a human responsible. This is not a dog problem but a people problem.” So lets join together and help homeless animals!

On Sunday, Aug. 5, Dog Is My CoPilot celebrates the arrival of its 10,000th passenger. Hobbs, as he’s been named by DIMC co-founder Peter “The Pilot” Rork, is a lovable 8-year-old Chocolate Lab.

Peter met Hobbs on his way to San Antonio, Texas. He’d made a brief landing in Hobbs, N.M., to drop off crates when the rescue worker who met him at the airport, DC Paws Founder Gina Beard, introduced him to the dog. Did Gina somehow know Peter has a soft spot for Labs? We may never know, but ever since Peter lost Doyle (his beloved Black Lab who inspired DIMC’s Snoopy-like logo) he’s been looking for his next Lab.

“It’s just a coincidence that Hobbs is my 10,000th passenger, and I couldn’t be happier to fly him home!” Peter says.

Dog Is My CoPilot will be flying Hobbs and 100 others from Roswell/Hobbs this Sunday, Aug. 5, to his furever home with Peter’s other dog, Tia, who, if you will recall, was also from Roswell/Hobbs and was DIMC’s 4,000th passenger.

For DIMC, Hobbs’ arrival marks a tremendous milestone. Founded in 2012 by Peter and Arizona lawyer Judy Zimet, DIMC’s mission is simple: To transport dogs from areas of the United States where they are not wanted to areas where they’re in demand. Thanks to invaluable partnerships with like-minded organizations like DC Paws and From Forgotten to Forever Rescue and Transport we’ve been able to reach our goal of saving 10,000 lives in 2018. But the mere fact that 10,000 lives have NEEDED to be saved demonstrates our work is far from over. We will continue to need the support of donors and volunteers to keep flying. To help us continue this life saving work please visit: https://dogcopilot.org/donate/

According to Gina, Hobbs was adopted by a family in Midland, Texas, when he was 4-years-old and later rehomed to an individual in Seminole. Four years later, in 2018, he was found on the streets covered in ticks and suffering tick-borne illness (erlichia). His most recent owner was located but didn’t want him anymore and even tried to hand over another dog when she realized the woman who picked him up had a rescue connection.

“Hobbs became a DC Paws dog,” says Gina. “I had him checked at the vet, treated for the erlichia and the ticks and got him vaccinated and started networking him for rescue. The rest is history. Peter saw him and wanted him.”

DC (Denver City) Paws is a grassroots rescue organization that’s part of a wider group of “death row” pet rescue groups along the Texas-New Mexico border including Amazing Grace Pet Rescue in Hobbs; From Forgotten to Forever Rescue and Transport in Roswell; and Reeds Ranch Rescue in Seagraves, Texas. Gina says the groups work together to raise money and secure sponsorships to cover vet bills for unwanted animals. In just three years, Amazing Grace Pet Rescue, DC Paws and Reeds Ranch Rescue has given more than 2,000 animals a fresh start at a better forever. And From Forgotten to Forever Rescue saves about 3,000 lives annually!

“We focus on abandoned animals, kill shelter animals, injured animals or simply animals that are no longer wanted and left in dire straits,” Gina says.

DIMC couldn’t count Hobbs as its 10,000th passenger if it weren’t for the tireless work of the dedicated rescue workers at our partner organizations who provide the vital collaborations that give us dogs to bring home.

“The real hero isn’t the guy flying the dogs to safety, it’s the people who walk into the shelters every single day and deal with those animals,” said Peter ‘The Pilot’.